It’s just great to be home, it’s a sense of relief, the home cooking, seeing family and friends. The Flyers are always happy to see Oskar Lindblom, and he brightens everyone’s day.
Bobby Ryan won the Bill Masterton Trophy. An award that Oskar and Stephen Johns ever so deserved, and it’s given to “The National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.” It’s so tough, all three should have won this award. This award was voted on before the playoffs began, so Lindblom should have another shot at winning this next season.
“Tremendously impressed of Oskar,” Bobby Ryan said after winning the award, “Equally deserving of this honor. I’m so proud of him (Oskar), I hope he continues to kick ass.”
Lindblom brightens everyone’s day, as Alain Vigneault loves the kid. The young man in Lindblom paid a visit to the Flyers in practice back in January. He gives them a sense of hope, and is a ray of sunshine. Lindblom is so strong, and mentally tough. Vigneault calls him “Sunshine,” “There’s no doubt that having him around and in the last, I would say, week there was a feeling, a buzz around our team that he might get a chance to play,” Alain Vigneault said last Friday, “We had sort of made a deal with him. Originally in the schedule, September the 6th was the start of the Conference Final in Edmonton. We sort of made the deal with him that we would get there and you get yourself ready to play in Edmonton. The circumstances made it that we needed him before and luckily he was ready. What does that say about the young man, that after having going through what he went through. He could have easily said. ‘Listen with the way things are in the world and the COVID, I’m going to wait for next year. I’ll get ready and I’ll be 100%’. No, he comes back. He helps his teammates. Gets himself ready to play. I don’t want to say we accelerate the process here, but the 6th of September, the 3rd of September, it’s pretty close. He’s all in. He wanted to play and help his teammates. That says a tremendous amount about the young man.”
“It shows the character of who Oskar really is,” Kevin Hayes said on Friday, “He’s a true warrior. I know our team supported him every step along the way. Just to see him in the locker room before we went on the ice was something special. We couldn’t be happier for him.”
The PHWA nominated Lindblom as the Masterton Trophy nominee for 2020, to which he was named as a finalist for the Trophy a few months ago by the NHL. This was an honor, as Lindblom beat Ewing’s Sarcoma in July, and managed to play in Games 6 and 7 in the second of the playoffs against the New York Islanders.
Athletes are human too. Lindblom is always happy, upbeat, and in good spirits daily. It’s tough for a team to lose that type of upbeat personality in the locker room.
Whatever the case maybe, Lindblom is more than deserving of winning this award, so maybe he will next season. Everyone remain #OskarStrong. We are in this fight together with Lindblom.
